Life in a Flash
by McB
Summary: Beautiful rolling waves and a bright blue sky is all you need, until your past comes knocking at your door. R&R please!
1. Blue Sky

Chapter 1: Wave Life: Blue Sky  
  
xxxxxx  
  
He rolled over, slapping his hand down on the alarm clock, stopping it's persistant beeping.  
  
The sun shone through the open window, a light breeze carrying the ocean scent into his bedroom.  
  
He rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, slowly sitting up to greet the beautiful Californian day.  
  
His feet swung over the edge of the bed, contacting with the cool hardwood floor beneath.  
  
He stretched his arms as far out as they would go and slipped a light blue t-shirt on that had been lying on the floor.  
  
Grabbing his glasses off the nightstand, he stood up and walked out into the kitchen where his friend and roomate of five, soon to be six, years sat.  
  
"Hey man." He said as he took a seat at the table.  
  
Merrick looked up from the bowl of cereal he was inhaling. "Morning, I thought you were at the shop."  
  
Chandler looked over the the calender that hung on the wall. "No, it's Saturday."  
  
Merrick smiled, "I knew that."  
  
Chandler couldn't think of who, but Merrick reminded him of somebody so familiar, it was scary.  
  
"So, are we going out today?" Merrick asked as he got up to put his bowl in the sink.  
  
"Sure, if it looks good." Chandler replied, getting up to look out the window at the ocean. "As always." He continued, seeing the beautiful rolling waves and the bright blue sky.  
  
"Great. I'm just gonna go take a shower, I'll meet you out there." Merrick said, and dissapeared into the bathroom.  
  
Chandler went to change into his surf shorts, grabbed his board, and was out the door.  
  
T B C  
  
confuzzled? i'll get the next chapter up soon, i hope. all you have to do is review! 


	2. Uproar

Life in a Flash: Chapter 2: Uproar  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Chandler stopped about 20 feet from the water to shed his t-shirt, exposing his not-so-bad looking chest.  
  
He grabbed his board from the sand and paddled out into the ocean waves.   
  
Once he got out far enough, he sat up on his board, looking out into the world past the sea.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Meanwhile, coincidentaly, both Rachel and Ross had confrences in Long Beach on the same weekend, and the rest of the gand had tagged along for a short vacation.  
  
Phoebe, Joey and Monica had nothing to do all day while both Ross and Rachel were busy, so they decided to hit the beach, check out all the hot Californians, perfectly tanned.  
  
Monica and Phoebe were tanning and Joey was sitting next to them, checking out all the women, when he noticed a man out in the water, just sitting on a surf board.  
  
He looked deathly familiar, and Joey knew he knew who he was, but it wasn't someone from recent times.   
  
It was somebody from the past.  
  
"Monica, Phoebe, check this out." He said, looking down at them.  
  
"Joey, I don't want to give you my opinion on some girl. You can do that by yourself." Monica said, still not sitting up.  
  
"No really, look." He urged.  
  
"Oh my god, what do you want Joey?" Phoebe said as she and Monica sat up to look at whatever it was.  
  
"Out there, that guy on the surfboard." Joey pointed out where the man was now getting ready to ride a wave.  
  
"Oh my god! That's Chandler!" Monica screamed.  
  
"What in the world is going on!" Phoebe said as she stood up.  
  
"What do we do?" Joey asked.  
  
"Let's go talk to him." Phoebe said.  
  
"No, we can't. We're not even sure if that's him. Let's just watch him and see where he goes." Monica said.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
After several hours of surfing, Chandler and Merrick were both exausted.  
  
They were both out in the water, lying on their boards, looking up at the crystal blue sky.  
  
"Don't we have a game tonight?" Chandler asked, looking over towards Merrick, who had his eyes closed.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"A game, a hockey game. Don't we play tonight?" He asked again.  
  
"Yea I think so."   
  
"Well then that means we have practice in like, an hour." Chandler said, sitting up.  
  
Merrick continued to look up at the sky. "Yea, we should get going!"  
  
Chandler laughed and they both started to paddle to shore.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
"He's coming in!" Joey said.  
  
"Yea, I have eyes too Joe." Monica said.  
  
"Well what do we do?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"I don't know, should we follow him?" Monica asked.  
  
"Yea, let's see where he lives, then come back later." Phoebe said.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Chandler and Merrick reached shore and picked up their boards, ready to head back home.  
  
"Do you even know who we're playing tonight?" Merrick asked.  
  
"No clue." Chandler replied.  
  
Merrick looked behind them and noticed three people following them.  
  
"I think we got people trailing us." He said.  
  
"What?" Chandler asked, turning around.  
  
"I think their following us." Merrick said again.  
  
"No, I think their just going home. You know, like us?"  
  
"Meh." Merrick said as they reached their apartment building's back door.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
"Well, that was short lived. We could have followed them and still just sat where we were." Monica said as they walked past Chandler and the other man.  
  
"So, when are we gonna come back?" Joey asked, reaching the car.  
  
"Well, we have to tell Ross and Rachel about this." Phoebe said.  
  
"Let's just go back, get cleaned up, tell them, and come back tonight." Monica replied.  
  
"Sounds good to me." Joey said and started the car.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
"Oh, that was a great game!" Chandler yelled, lifting his bear high in the air.  
  
They did this after every game.   
  
They threw a party at their apartment, with the entire team.  
  
Which meant 20 full grown men, plus random others, all in their place, drinking.  
  
"You're damn right it was!" Merrick yelled.  
  
"Jimmy, you are one HELL of a goalie! We kicked Oregon's ass!" Another team member yelled, rubbing Jimmy's round, buzzed, head.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Joey, Phoebe, and Monica had replayed their day to Ross and Rachel, and after much disscusion were standing in front of Chandler's apartment building.  
  
"Well, let's go." Rachel said.  
  
They all walked inside and, after Ross got Chandler's apartment number, were headed to the fifth floor.  
  
They all cramped inside of a small elevator, begging for it to move faster.  
  
The bell dinged and they walked out, headed for apartment number 55.  
  
It was eight doors down on the right, but they could hear loud music and yells of people from where they stood.  
  
They all looked at each other before Ross took the lead and headed for the door.  
  
Ross and Joey stood in front while everybody else stood behind them.  
  
Joey took a deap breath and knocked on the door.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Chandler was standing in the kitchen, refilling his little red cup with the beer keg.  
  
He quickly downed it in one easy gulp and was just about to fill it up again when there was a knock on the door.  
  
He looked around, waiting for somebody to get it but nobody did.  
  
"So I'll get the door then?" He yelled, walking his very wobbly body over to it.  
  
He fumbled with the handle for quite some time before he could get it to work.  
  
"Success!" He yelled, twisting it and pulling it open.  
  
He stumbled backwards, pulling the door all the way open, almost falling down in the process.  
  
Chandler looked at the five people in front of him, expecting them to do something.  
  
"Where the hell have you been?!" Phoebe yelled.  
  
Chandler's eyes went wide from the sudden outburst of this woman and the thunder it created in his head.  
  
He paused before talking. "I'm sorry can I help you?" He drunkenly slurred and swayed back and forth.  
  
"What do you mean can you help us? It's us Chandler!" Ross yelled.  
  
He once again he just starred at them, nothing clicking in his brain. "Oh, would you like to come in?" He said, stepping sideways, motioning the the party.  
  
"Yea! Join the par-tay!" Merrick yelled, obvioulsly drunk, just as everybody else was.  
  
"Chandler? What the hell is going on?" Monica asked in a hushed voice.  
  
"Well, you see, this is a party, so-" He was cut off by Monica, yelling this time.  
  
"Chandler, where have you been for the past six years?!" She screamed, making Chandler step back from the noise of her.  
  
"Right here?" He asked as the alcohol started to get the better of him, making it increasingly difficult to stand on his own two feet.  
  
He started swaying heavily and grabbed onto the door to keep from falling.  
  
"He's gonna fall down." Ross said to Joey.  
  
"And there he goes." Joey said back as the the door swung backwards, taking away Chandler's support system, and he crashed to the floor beneath..  
  
xxxxxx  
  
(later that night)  
  
After Chandler had passed out, the group had talked to Merrick and explained the whole situation.   
  
He let them stay the night, even though they all had hotel rooms to stay in.  
  
They just didn't want Chandler to dissapear again.  
  
Merrick had gone to bed long before everybody else, Chandler was still out cold, although, they had moved him to one of the couches they had, and everybody else was asleep in random places.  
  
Monica was the first to wake up the next morning.  
  
She looked around the strange apartment, wondering where she was.  
  
The events of yesterday all came back to her and she got up to look at the couch.  
  
And indeed, there he was, still out, but there.  
  
Joey was next to wake up.  
  
He looked up to see Monica standing next to him, looking down at something on the other side of the couch, he too had forgotten about yesterday, until he got up and stood next to her to see what it was she was looking at.  
  
"I can't believe this." He said.  
  
"I know, we finally found him." Monica agreed.  
  
She reached down and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand, making him stir lightly in his sleep.  
  
"Why do you think he left in the first place?" Joey asked.  
  
"I wonder if he even knows." She replied.  
  
Rachel could hear light talking and opened her eyes to see Joey and Monica across the room, talking while looking down at, Chandler.  
  
She sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  
  
"This is so weird." She said as she approached them.  
  
Joey and Monica just nodded.  
  
Both Phoebe and Ross woke up at the same time, just as Merrick was walking out of his room.  
  
"Whoa, mornin everybody." Merrick said, walking over to the kitchen.  
  
Everybody followed him into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table.  
  
"Nice place you got here." Ross said, desperate to start a conversation of some sort.  
  
"Yea, Chandler found it, we were poor when we bought the place, but we opened the bar and got a lot of money to fix it up." Merrick replied.  
  
"So how long have you guys known each other?" Monica asked.  
  
"Oh, I'd say about six years." He said as he went to open the blinds and windows, letting the sun fill the apartment.  
  
The sun hit Chandler's face and he coughed in his sleep.  
  
Everybody looked towards him as he slowly sat up and rubbed his face.  
  
He just starred out the window and then looked to everybody else.  
  
"What's going on?" He asked.  
  
"We were kind of hoping you could tell us that." Rachel said.  
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"Don't you remember us Chandler? Are you really that shallow to just forget about us?" Monica asked, standing up from the table.  
  
"Am I supposed to remember you?" He asked.  
  
"I can't believe this. You just leave and then six years later, we find you and you act like you don't even know us? We had no idea where you were." Phoebe said.  
  
"I've been here. Where else would I be?" He laughed.  
  
"In New York, where you live! Or should I say lived?" Ross yelled.  
  
"I should just leave you guys alone." Merrick said, grabbing his keys and quickly exiting the apartment.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry you guys, I just don't remember you." Chandler said, standing up.  
  
"Well just try ok?" Joey yelled.  
  
"Ok you know what, we're just gonna take off." Monica said. "I'll leave you the number of the hotel we're staying at. But we're only gonna be there until Sunday. My name's Monica Geller, just ask for me if you call."  
  
And with that, they were all gone.  
  
T B C 


	3. Try a little harder

Life in a Flash: Chapter 3: Try a little harder  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Chandler hadn't spoken to them since Saturday morning, except for the one time Phoebe came over to tell him that they were staying an extra week.  
  
It was now Monday.  
  
A very rainy Monday.  
  
He had another game tonight, and he thought that he would invite them along, and then they could go out and talk after that.  
  
He exited his room, walking straight for the fridge, where the number was stuck to it.  
  
He picked up the phone, called the hotel, and asked for Monica Geller.  
  
"Hello?" She said.  
  
"Hey, Monica. It's me, Chandler."  
  
"Oh, hey." She said quietly.  
  
"Um, I have a game tonight, and, I was wondering if you guys wanted to come with, and then maybe go out to eat so we could all talk afterwards."   
  
"Oh yea, sure, we'll be there. What kind of game is it?" She asked.  
  
"A hockey game."  
  
"Wow, you play hockey?" She asked in an amazed yet hysterical voice..  
  
"Yea, I guess so. It's like a farm team thing." He laughed.  
  
"So where should we meet you?"  
  
"At the Long Beach Ice Arena. At 6:30. I'll just wait outside for you guys."  
  
"Ok, see you there."  
  
"Yea."  
  
He set the phone back on the hook.  
  
Tonight was going to be interesting.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
They all had come, and were now sitting up in the stands, watching Chandler fly around on the ice.  
  
He had told them he'd meet them at a little resturaunt when the game was over a couple blocks away, that he usually took dates to.  
  
Chandler was skating around, trying to concentrate on the puck that he was trying to get into the goal, but all he could think about was tonight.  
  
He was more nervous than he had been in his entire life.  
  
He still had some ways to go until he got down near the goal, so he moved to the wall, just when a giant gorrilla like man started coming up from his right.  
  
Chandler had completely lost focus, and just as he got up to the goal, the man smashed into him, making him hit the back of his neck on the top of the goal.  
  
The entire goal had come out of the ice and went flying backwards towards the wall, along with Chandler.  
  
He collapsed down on his back, his entire world spinning.  
  
His vision became blurred, his entire body was tingling, and he found himself gasping for air, trying to force it into his lungs.  
  
He could hear Merrick rushing towards him, yelling his name as he hit the ice.  
  
He could make out several bodies standing over him, calling his name, but the voices sounded so distant.  
  
He could hear the announcer's voice coming out of the speakers that were hung high above.  
  
He could hear the loud voices of the hundreds of people in the stands.  
  
Slowly, he lifted his arm up to move his face mask up, giving him more air.  
  
A doctor came rushing over and knelt down in front of him.  
  
He could feel him put his hand on his chest and he could barely see the fingers that he held in front of his face, asking him how many he was holding up.  
  
He couldn't count them, for all he cared, he could have been flipping him off.  
  
A searing pain shot down his back, he squeezed his eyes shut and hollored out in pain.   
  
His world was blackening fast, and there was nothing he could do but let it take hold of him.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
ok, so, it took a little longer to get this chapter up than I had intended. the next story I'll probably update will be What's it Like to Live. so watch for it, and please review!!! 


	4. The Sky is Changing

Life in a Flash: Chapter 4: The sky is changing  
  
(((((())))))  
  
By the time they had gotten him in the ambulance and to the hospital, he was already concious again. He had no idea why they needed to take him to the hospital now, he felt fine.   
  
The ambulance came to a screeching stop and the back doors flew open. They wheeled him out of the vehicle and into the hospital with such grace that he wondered how many times they had had to have done this before, how many people barely clinging to life they must have rushed through these same doors.  
  
The had put an oxygen mask on him on the way to the hospital and kept shouting things back and forth over the top of him. Phoebe had gone along in the ambulance but he wasn't sure where she had gotten to now. They weren't running with him down the hallway so he took that as a good sign. The two doctors, a nurse, and a paramedic were saying things that he had no idea what meant, so he focused his attention to the passing ceiling, counting the lights as they went by.  
  
After about two minutes of going through various hallways and up two floors, they finally arrived to a room that had no other doors that they could push him through. He knew this wasn't the room he would be staying in tonight, so he knew what was coming his way. A nurse walked to the head of the stretcher and informed him that they were moving him onto a different bed.   
  
He was preparing to get up, taking him by surprise when they all shouted "1...2...3!" and lifted him onto the other bed without any effort from him. The nurse walked back up to where his head lay and put a different mask over his mouth and nose, this one had a different substance coming out of the tube though. As the seconds wore on, he found himself falling into a peacefull sleep.  
  
(((((()))))) - 4 hours later -   
  
"What is taking them so long?" Monica shouted, jumping up from her plastic chair.  
  
"Monica, calm down. I'm sure it's nothing serious." Ross said soothingly. They had been out in the waiting room the whole time, and nobody had come to inform them of what was going on with Chandler. "Come sit back down." He patted the seat beside him and she came and sat down, only to jump back up again.  
  
"Somebody should have come out here by now!" She yelled, attracting the attention of an elderly woman sitting in the corner.  
  
"Monica, be quiet. This is a hospital." Joey said, getting increasingly annoyed with her. Just as she was about to go sit back down again, a doctor walked into the waiting room.  
  
"Are you here for, Chandler Bing?" He asked, looking over to the group.  
  
"Yes, yes we are." Rachel said, getting up and walking over to him to shake his hand.  
  
"I'm Doctor Fields." He announced. "Chandler's doing great. He had a mild concusion, we checked for brain damage and we didn't find anything so that's a plus. He did separate a vertebrae in his lower back, but that's taken care of. He won't be able to play hockey for the rest of the season I'm affraid, he'll be in a wheel chair for a couple of weeks, just in case. We don't want him walking around or anything." He finished.  
  
"Can we see him?" Joey asked.  
  
"Sure, I think he's awake, I haven't seen him in about an hour so I'm not sure. His room is down the hall and to the right, room 366." He said before walking away, not giving them a chance to ask anything else.  
  
"Let's go." Phoebe said, already heading down the hall.   
  
"Hold on." Ross said, walking over and grabbing his coat. Rachel and Phoebe did the same, also grabbing their purses, before they all walked down the hall to his room together.  
  
T B C  
  
Ok, so this is a really short chapter, but I'm trying to update all of my fics, and it's getting hard. I don't know where to go with some of them! Please review and Happy Easter! 


	5. Remembering

Life in a Flash: Chapter 5: remembering  
  
))))))((((((  
  
The five raced down the hallway towards his room. They knew that there was no rush, they just wanted to see for themselves that he was okay. One by one they slowed to a stop, all lined up in front of his door, Joey in the front. He slowly inched the door open, not sure if Chandler was asleep or not. He quietly peered in and looked at him, lying on the bed, fast asleep. He didn't want to go back to the waiting room and sit there for a few more hours so he turned around and motioned for the group to be quiet before procceeding into the room.  
  
They all tiptoed into the room, surrounding the bed. There were only two chairs in the room so Joey and Ross each took one, Phoebe sat on Joey's lap, Rachel sat on Ross's and Monica sat on the edge of Chandler's bed. She reached down and carefully picked up his hand, rubbing her thumb in little circles over his palm.  
  
Joey rubbed his eyes and surpressed a yawn, catching Phoebe's attention. She smiled back at him and rested her head on his shoulder. Everybody was becoming increasingly tired, as it was already nearing three am. Rachel was already asleep on Ross's shoulder and Ross was dozing off himself.   
  
Monica layed down over the foot of Chandler's bed and wrapped the little area of blanket that she could get around herself. Within minutes, everybody was sleeping.  
  
))))))(((((( - the next morning -   
  
Chandler could hear light snoring coming from somewhere in the room, and his feet were being weighed down by a force that did not come from him. He opened his eyes and slowly lifted his head, very aware of the pain that it caused. He stared down towards the end of his bed where Monica lay, the cause of his imobility. With a quick glance around the room he saw that Ross, Phoebe, Joey, and Rachel were amongst the unconcious. He tried to slide his feet out from underneath Monica without waking her, but did anyway.   
  
She launched herself off of the bed, spinning around, obviously not aware of where she was. Chandler laughed at her frenzied state. "Monica, calm down." He said between laughs. Her head shot down to him, calming her slightly.   
  
"Oh thank God." She breathed. "I had a horrible dream..I thought you were dead." She cried, a tear running down her face.   
  
"Well, I'm fine. I'm not dead." He smiled. "So, what happned?" He asked.  
  
"What do you mean what happened?" Monica sat on the edge of his bed.  
  
"Why am I here?"   
  
"You..you don't remember?" She was shocked, the doctor never said anything about memory loss.  
  
"No, I really don't." He said.  
  
"Well, you got hit when you were playing hockey. I don't really what happpened after that, I was too concentrated on getting down to you. An ambulence came and they took you away. I'm not sure what they did to you when you got here, but I'm just glad that you ARE still here." She smiled.  
  
"Oh. Where's Merrick?" He asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, I thought he was going to come here after they finished the game but he never showed up. He's probably back at your apartment."  
  
"How long are they keeping me here?"  
  
"I'm not sure, I don't think for very long."   
  
"So, it's nothing serious then?" He looked so hopeful.  
  
"Well, they're keeping you in a wheelchair for a couple of weeks. The doctor said that you can't play hockey for the rest of the season. I'm guessing they won't let you surf either. Sorry honey."  
  
Chandler smiled. "I remember when you used to call me that."   
  
Monica stopped breathing and her eyes went wide.   
  
"What? What's wrong? What did I say?" Chandler panicked.  
  
"Y-you remember?"  
  
))))))((((((  
  
T B C  
  
PLEASE REVIEW! 


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